Media Hit On Coverage Of Israel

April 13, 1988|By CAROL BRZOZOWSKI, Staff Writer

In a year when Jews anticipated a joyful celebration of 40 years of a Jewish state, many Jews instead have found themselves to be in a period of ``pain and anger`` over the conflict in Israel, a local Jewish leader said.

Louise Shure, director of the Palm Beach County regional office of the Anti- Defamation League of B`nai B`rith, placed much of the blame for the problem on the media in her speech to the Boca Teeca chapter of the B`nai B`rith on Tuesday.

``For the first time, many Jews are embarrassed about Israel and about being Jewish,`` Shure said.

Shure reiterated the criticism of the media that has come from many other Jewish leaders, saying that news coverage lacks historical perspective, making it look as if the current unrest ``is spontaneous.``

Shure`s criticism was aimed more at the broadcast media than the print media.

``Every single night on network TV, there`s a war for you to turn to that channel,`` she said. ``They think that Americans like to see blood in the streets, like to see violence and like to see sensationalism. The Palestinian leaders realized that TV cameras like that kind of action.``

Shure questioned why there is so little coverage on what she says are the reasons for the trouble -- leaflets distributed to Palestinians detailing how to make Molotov cocktails and Syrian radio reports that ``tell people when to go into civil disobedience.``

Shure said there are three types of images being portrayed about Israel in the media.

The first image is a body count ``that conjures up the memory of Vietnam that used to be so painful.``

The second image compares today`s Israelis to yesterday`s Nazis, making Palestinians the ``Jews of today`` and ``the Jews are the Nazis of today.``

The third image compares Israel to South Africa and the apartheid situation in which Israelis are supposed to be ``denying human rights to Palestinians,`` Shure said.

Shure said what she finds most ``infuriating`` is that the unrest in Israel is given prominent coverage in the news, while other sensitive world situations take less precedence.

``It`s a double standard,`` she said. ``What happens in Israel continues to make front page news.``

Part of the Anti-Defamation League`s activities is to monitor the media for presenting what it believes are distorted images of Jews and anti-Semitism.